Sometimes in life, we encounter difficult decisions and situations that require careful consideration and guidance. If you’re facing uncertainty about your relationship's future, you don’t have to figure things out on your own.
Discernment counseling is a short-term, goal-oriented form of therapy specifically designed for couples on the brink of separation or divorce. It helps couples gain clarity and confidence in deciding the best path forward for their relationship. Our therapists provide a supportive and nonjudgmental environment where you can explore your thoughts, feelings, and concerns openly.
"To Stay or Go?" A Critical Question for Ailing Relationships
If you or your partner are considering separation or divorce, but are not completely sure which path to pursue, Discernment Counseling was designed for you. Discernment Counseling is a research-validated, blame-free way of helping couples where one person is “leaning out” of the relationship—and not sure that couples therapy can help--and the other is “leaning in”—interested in salvaging the marriage. In Discernment Counseling, I’ll help you get clear on which path to walk down:
commit to couples therapy and creating a new relational bond, or
move towards separation or divorce, or
take a structured time-out and decide later.
Discernment Counseling aims to help you gain clarity and confidence about a direction, based on a deeper understanding of how your relationship got to the possibility of termination, and possibilities for the future. The goal in this approach is not to solve your relationship problems but to see if they are solvable in couples therapy. You will each be treated with compassion and respect no matter how you are feeling about your marriage at the moment.
Discernment Counseling is distinctly different from couple’s therapy in that while we’ll all meet together, the most important work occurs in the one-to-one conversations. We do this because you are starting out in different places and the focus is not on relational change but instead, on achieving clarity on which path to walk down and where each individual partner is leaning.
Even if the decision is made to end the relationship, the couple’s I meet with you in this way typically separate more amicably, experience improved communication and co-parenting, and have a deeper understand of their own parts and moves in relationships.